Occupational Therapy Continuing Education

Occupational therapy continuing education refers to the organized and well-planned learning activities meant to improve and increase the medical knowledge, professional performance and skills of occupational therapists. They provide easily accessible, high quality, up-to-date continuing education courses on various topics related to occupational therapy, being designed to maintain and develop relevant information for the enhancement of both practice and education.

Occupational therapy continuing education covers various subject areas, such as the adult and geriatric rehabilitation, pediatrics, cardiopulmonary, manual therapy, orthopedics and sports medicine or women health. They aim at maintaining excellence and providing individualized research courses and seminars for those interested in learning and discussing the emerging concepts of occupational science, current models of occupational therapy and their application to occupational therapy practice. They are meant to encourage occupational therapists to enlarge their knowledge base and to be at the forefront of new developments, discussing not only general basic information but also issues related to research, treatment, documentation, education or management. Ranging from new techniques and materials to innovative practice management solutions, these courses investigate contemporary applications of technology and strategies to support daily occupation within home, school, workplace, and community contexts, they gain insight into health care system issues that impact the delivery of occupational therapy services, they integrate contextual considerations, contemporary concepts of neuroscience and human occupation into the daily practice of occupational therapy, they design model occupational therapy consultation services, they explore legislative issues, they appraise concepts of occupational science and human occupation, they develop and incorporate advanced leadership skills into daily practice, they apply concepts, strategies, and specific tools to assess practice outcomes and program evaluation, descriptive analyses, intervention effectiveness, research synthesis and communication.

The most common occupational therapy continuing education courses available cover categories like ADHD, Autism, Dyslexia and Other Learning Disorders, AIDS, Anatomy Dissections, Arthritis, Atlas of the Hand Clinics, Boundary Training, Ethics for Professionals, Hand Therapy, Clinical Rehabilitation of the Wrist, Continuous Passive Motion, Electrotherapy: Evidenced Based Practice, Ergonomics, Hand Therapy, Kinesio Taping, Manual Edema Mobilization, Pain Management, Pediatrics, Rehabilitation, Sports and Hand Injuries, Therapeutic Modalities, Upper Extremity Anatomy, and so on and so forth.

Occupational therapy continuing education is part of a comprehensive lifelong learning program, providing an easy-to-access and individualized educational activity for occupational therapists, who aim at increasing their clinical knowledge, improving the clinical treatment of patients and remaining up-to-date in regards to developments in the scientific knowledge base.